美联社
极端正统派犹太男子和儿童焚烧发酵物品，为逾越节做最后准备
耶路撒冷——一年前，乔丹娜·格雷高的父母独自在以色列的家中度过了逾越节，但他们庆幸自己躲过了1980年最严重的流行病意大利。今年，全家人将聚在一起庆祝犹太人从流行病中解放出来的节日。
以色列930万人口中有一半以上接种了疫苗，随着冠状病毒感染的急剧下降，当局允许餐馆、酒店、博物馆和剧院重新开放。现在最多可以有20人聚集在室内。
与去年相比，这是一个明显的转变，当时以色列处于三次全国性封锁中的第一次，企业关闭，检查站设在空旷的道路上，人们被限制在家里。许多人只能通过视频通话看到他们年迈的亲戚。
从意大利移民到以色列的格雷高说:“对我们以色列人来说，今年真正庆祝自由的节日肯定有着完全不同的意义。“令人惊讶的是，今年我们能够一起庆祝，也考虑到在意大利，每个人仍然被封锁。”
逾越节是犹太人的节日，庆祝圣经中的以色列人在经历了一系列神圣的瘟疫后从埃及的奴隶制中解放出来。为期一周的春季节从周六晚上开始，以高度仪式化的逾越节晚餐开始，这时《出埃及记》的故事被重新讲述。这是一种类似感恩节的气氛，有家人、朋友、盛宴和四杯葡萄酒。
在这一周，守约的犹太人不吃面包和其他发酵食品，以纪念逃离埃及的艰辛。相反，他们吃无酵饼。
节日准备工作包括春季大扫除，从家里和办公室里清除哪怕是最小的发酵面包碎屑。街边的角落里放着烧开水的大锅，用来煮厨房用具，许多人会烧掉他们丢弃的面包，这就是所谓的chametz。超市用发酵食品封锁过道，用黑色塑料包装货架。
大多数以色列犹太人——无论是宗教的还是世俗的——都和大家庭一起过逾越节。去年的逾越节是对传统的重大突破。
政府施加的限制迫使犹太教堂关闭，并限制行动和集会，以减缓病毒的传播。一些人与他们的核心家庭一起举行仪式餐，其他人通过视频会议，而少数不幸的人独自举行逾越节家宴。
在9月份的犹太节日期间，又实施了一次封锁，再次阻止了家庭聚会，今年早些时候，随着这种病毒更具传染性的变种的出现，又实施了第三次封锁。
到第三次封锁时，以色列已经发起了世界上最成功的接种运动之一，此前政府从辉瑞和莫德纳获得了数百万剂疫苗。以色列现在已经为超过80%的成年人接种了疫苗。
现在说以色列的冠状病毒危机已经结束还为时过早，因为可能会出现对疫苗有耐药性的新变体。
在以色列占领的西岸和加沙地带的疫苗接种运动进展缓慢，以色列因没有分享更多的供应而面临批评。以色列为在以色列和西岸定居点工作的10多万名巴勒斯坦劳工接种了疫苗，并向巴勒斯坦权力机构发送了几千剂疫苗。
巴勒斯坦人自己进口了130 000多剂，但可能要过几个月才能为该领土上近500万巴勒斯坦人中的绝大多数注射疫苗。专家表示，这可能对以色列自身的公共卫生努力构成威胁。
然而，就目前而言，以色列人正在享受大流行后的现实，这给逾越节增添了特殊的意义。
“这不仅象征着这是一个自由的节日，也是一个家庭的节日，”绍姆市的首席拉比兼自由东正教组织Tzohar的负责人拉比大卫·斯塔夫说。
“今年，各家都在团结。那些如此孤独的人，尤其是与家人分离的老年人，突然发现了与他们在一起的自由和快乐。”
Israelis gather for Passover, celebrating freedom from virus
JERUSALEM -- A year ago, Giordana Grego's parents spent Passover at home in Israel, alone but grateful that they had escaped the worst of the pandemic inItaly. This year, the whole family will get together to mark the Jewish feast of liberation and deliverance from the pandemic.
Israel has vaccinated over half its population of 9.3 million, and as coronavirus infections have plummeted, authorities have allowed restaurants, hotels, museums and theaters to re-open. Up to 20 people can now gather indoors.
It's a stark turnaround from last year, when Israel was in the first of three nationwide lockdowns, with businesses shuttered, checkpoints set up on empty roads and people confined to their homes. Many could only see their elderly relatives on video calls.
“For us in Israel, really celebrating the festivity of freedom definitely has a whole different meaning this year after what we experienced,” said Grego, who immigrated to Israel from Italy. “It’s amazing that this year we’re able to celebrate together, also considering that in Italy, everybody is still under lockdown."
Passover is the Jewish holiday celebrating the biblical Israelites' liberation from slavery in Egypt after a series of divine plagues. The week-long springtime festival starts Saturday night with the highly ritualized Seder meal, when the Exodus story is retold. It's a Thanksgiving-like atmosphere with family, friends, feasting and four cups of wine.
Throughout the week, observant Jews abstain from the consumption of bread and other leavened foods to commemorate the hardships of the flight from Egypt. Instead, they eat unleavened matzah.
Holiday preparations involve spring cleaning to the extreme to remove even the tiniest crumbs of leavened bread from homes and offices. Cauldrons of boiling water are set up on street corners to boil kitchenware, and many burn their discarded bread, known as chametz. Supermarkets cordon off aisles with leavened goods, wrapping shelves in black plastic.
Most Israeli Jews — religious and secular alike — spend the Seder with extended family. Last year's Passover was a major break in tradition.
Government-imposed restrictions forced the closure of synagogues and limited movement and assembly to slow the virus' spread. Some conducted the ritual meal with their nuclear family, others over videoconference, while an unfortunate few held the Seder in solitude.
Another lockdown was imposed over the Jewish High Holidays in September, again preventing family gatherings, and a third came earlier this year with the emergence of more contagious variants of the virus.
By the third lockdown, Israel had launched one of the most successful inoculation campaigns in the world after the government secured millions of doses from Pfizer and Moderna. Israel has now vaccinated more than 80% of its adult population.
It's too early to say that Israel's coronavirus crisis is over, as new variants could emerge that are resistant to the vaccines.
The vaccination campaign in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza has been slow to get off the ground, with Israel facing criticism for not sharing more of its supplies. Israel has vaccinated over 100,000 Palestinian laborers who work in Israel and West Bank settlements, and has sent a couple thousand doses to the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinians have imported more than 130,000 doses on their own, but it could be several months before shots are available for the vast majority of the nearly 5 million Palestinians in the territories. Experts say that could pose a risk to Israel's own public health efforts.
For now, however, Israelis are enjoying what feels like a post-pandemic reality, lending special significance to Passover.
“It’s not only symbolic that it’s the holiday of freedom, but it’s also the holiday of the family,” said Rabbi David Stav, chief rabbi of the city of Shoham and head of the liberal Orthodox organization Tzohar.
“This year, families are uniting. People that were so lonely, especially older people, who were disengaged from their families, all of a sudden they discover the freedom and the joy of being together with them.”
